For centuries, the
witches were the scapegoats for many social disasters. They were
always the poorest classes of society. We believe this is not a
coincidence.

The
witch-burning rituals were not only a reproduction of patriarchy, but
also created an atmosphere of social hysteria which blanketed the
actual causes.

Yet today, we
have stronger tools to understand and analyze the causes of our miseries, such as critical thinking and scientific discourse.

We are
witches because we will point out the actual causes of our suffering.
As with the witches in the past, we are not the cause but the victims
of this destruction.

We are
non-flammable witches because no witch-burning ritual put an end to
the miseries of the world; the rituals actually created more witches.

In fact, it
created more than that. Mohammed Bouazizi burning himself in Tunisia
due to poverty and witches being burnt in the Early Modern period have a common root: They were made pay for the consequences they did not cause.

“Money is the god of this world; the bourgeois takes the proletarian’s money from him and so makes a practical atheist of him. ” [Friedrich Engels]

We are
non-flammable witches because we get up, stand up, and don't give up
the fight.

We invite
everyone to question all the dogmas surrounding us. We invite
everyone to fight against religions, the official historical
maintainers of social dogmas.

What is
religion?

Organized
religion, from the very moment it emerged, has been a part of power
relations. We believe that this is in the historical nature of
religions.

We reject
the hypocrisy of considering religions as mere personal beliefs. From
sexual orientations to basic right claims and from formal education
to gender politics, religion is a tool of oppression, misinformation
and exploitation. Institutionalized religion is still one of the most
important tools to legitimize sexism, injustice and inequalities.

We imagine a world where supernatural beliefs are purely personal issues. We imagine a world where free thought and critical thinking are the methods of social decisions.

We seek for
freedom from religion.

What does “freedom from religion” mean?

In the
social sense, we mean a society where every child is equidistant from
all religions of the world and then considers each of them freely.

In the
political sense, we mean a new social order where social institutions
create an environment where all religions are equally available to
the public.

Therefore,
we demand the real freedom of individual religious beliefs.

How will
freedom from religions be attained?

We highlight
that there are 4200 active religions in the world (not counting the
church of the flying spaghetti monster).
Thus, freedom of religious belief requires either that we establish
sanctuaries and recruit clergymen of each religion in all
neighborhoods and villages or that we free the society from all religious
institutions – political and social.

We
imagine a world emancipated from all religions. We imagine a world
where deceiving by means of dogmas is not possible anymore. We
imagine a world where supernatural beliefs are purely personal
issues. We imagine a world where free thought and critical thinking
are the methods of making social decisions.

And
we are not the only ones.

Religion:
Against freedom.

We
believe that religions are a political tool of oppression and a
social tool of legitimizing inequities. Therefore, we will treat them
as such.

We
think that the religious institutions are one of the biggest
obstacles to freedom. This obstacle does not affect only scientific
education, children's rights, gender equality and democratic
decision-making. We further argue that these religious institutions
are against freedom of belief. Today, a Portuguese child is as free
to choose her/his religion as a consumer is free to choose between
products. They are not: As in the so-called free market, there are
monopolies in religion.

By aiming at freedom from religion, we mean that we will fight against privileged religious beliefs: A society that has freedom of belief is a
society that is equidistant to all the 4200 active religions around
the world.

Atheism:
For freedom.

“We
are all atheists
about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us
just go one god further.”
[Richard Dawkins]

And
we, The
Non-Flammable Witches,
will go even further. We will not restrict our attention to
supernatural dogmas, but extend our skeptical views towards more
secular dogmas such as racism, nationalism, sexism and economic
growth.

We
have no tolerance for the deception and exploitation of the people.
We will not be tolerant to institutionalized religions. Our tolerance
is preserved for the 99%, who are working and producing, yet deprived
and suffering.

Our
atheism is a political stance; not a purely philosophical one. Our
atheism is a scientific and social stance; not a merely personal one.
Our atheism is part of the project of political and social
emancipation.

What
we have in the menu

Below
is a list of some of our immediate demands. We intend to extend and
deepen them during our activities.

Law: There
should be no privileged positions in society or advantage in law for
any individual or group by virtue of their religion or belief.
Religious institutions should not be exempt from public
investigations, inspection, and accountability criteria.

Education: Public
education should be secular. State funding for religious and private
schools should be abolished. Religious rituals and practices should
be abandoned in education.

Public education should be based on evidence, and designed to promote critical thinking and scientific skepticism.

Taxing
and Funding: Religious organizations and
communities must not receive privileges and immunities, such as tax
benefits or grants to promote religion.

Policy-making: Scientific skepticism and an evidence-based approach should be applied to all policy-making.

Principles

1.
We feel responsible and obligated to stand out and reach out by
organizing talks, issuing public declarations, running campaigns and
making direct actions.

2.
We make our decisions by the methods of participatory democracy.

3.
We adopt a skeptical, scientific and critical approach.

4.
We do not limit our critical approach with religion. We are against
any kind of discrimination based on nationality, ethnicity, color,
gender, sexual orientation and sexual identity.

5.
We do not favor any ungrounded ideas. We are “narrow-minded”
towards all the irrational belief systems ranging from pseudoscience
to mysticism, from monotheistic religions to astrology.

6.
While not hesitating to confront religious beliefs and institutions
and criticizing religions, we do not approve of the humiliation of
common people due to their religious beliefs. We fight ideas, not people. We take seriousness and
sincerity as our political style.

7.
We respect animal rights and all ecosystems as much as we respect
human rights. We ground our lives and political stance not on the
idea that the world was created for us, but on the knowledge that all
beings in the world coexist as parts of the whole.

8.
We take it as our principle to show solidarity to the individuals and
groups compatible with our goals and principles stated in this text,
and form co-operation with them within the bounds of possibility.

1.
We feel responsible and obligated to stand out and reach out by
organizing talks, issuing public declarations, running campaigns and
making direct actions.

2.
We make our decisions by the methods of participatory democracy.

3.
We adopt a skeptical, scientific and critical approach.

4.
We do not limit our critical approach with religion. We are against
any kind of discrimination based on nationality, ethnicity, color,
gender, sexual orientation and sexual identity.

5.
We do not favor any ungrounded ideas. We are “narrow-minded”
towards all the irrational belief systems ranging from pseudoscience
to mysticism, from monotheistic religions to astrology.

6.
While not hesitating to confront religious beliefs and institutions
and criticizing religions, we do not approve of the humiliation of
common people due to their religious beliefs. We fight ideas, not people. We take seriousness and
sincerity as our political style.

7.
We respect animal rights and all ecosystems as much as we respect
human rights. We ground our lives and political stance not on the
idea that the world was created for us, but on the knowledge that all
beings in the world coexist as parts of the whole.

8.
We take it as our principle to show solidarity to the individuals and
groups compatible with our goals and principles stated in this text,
and form co-operation with them within the bounds of possibility.

The Non-Flammable Witches take part in the Özgür Düşünce Hareketi (Free Thought Movement) network. Therefore, our stance and our actions are compatible with the statement of the network, which can be reached below or in this link.

Who are we?

We are a group of activists who had been defending free thought on the Internet individually before we came together to advocate for atheism, agnosticism and freedom from religions, in an atmosphere in which rulers and their partners keep harping on the freedom of supernatural beliefs, the simplest criticism are considered as “humiliation of public values”, and the mere existence of atheists
counts as an offense to religion.

We decided to build up an environment of solidarity against religious dogmas, with the aim of empowering, encouraging and reaching out to other free thinkers.

What is Religion?

All the assumptions that we call supernatural today are based on human efforts to explain phenomena that the past generations could not understand by or make sense of. By the emergence of the modern scientific reasoning, this practical reason-for-being of religions has disappeared.

Religion was humanity’s first attempt to systematically investigate the causality relations in natural and social phenomena. As an attempt, it was the predecessor of modern science; being the first attempt, it was inadequate and inconsistent. Religion tried to respond to many socio-psychological problems and questions that were either already present or developed after the emergence of religion. In this context, we are aware that, while its practical reason-for-being is gone, there are still plenty of reasons for religion itself to survive.

Organized religion, from the very moment it emerged, has become a part of power relations. Today, religious institutions are still one of the most important tools to legitimize injustice, inequalities and all the miseries in the world.

Our common denominator is that religions are not just personal opinions. Instantiating from sexual orientations to basic rights claims and from formal education to gender politics, religion is a tool of sovereignty and therefore should be discussed on a social rather than an individual level.

The Historical Journey of Religion and Atheist/Agnostic Ideas

The history of atheism is as old as the history of scientific thought. For instance, and these instances are present all around the world, Ancient Greek thinkers of the 8th century B.C.E. chose, instead of attributing supernatural forces to natural phenomena, to develop a critical thinking and to explain the world with worldly tools. This conception has become the basis of the modern natural sciences we utilize today.

The history of the struggle for a better world is as old as the history of inequities. Until the end of the Middle Ages, those who fought against the power of religion again referred back to religion. The real means for the emancipation of humanity from religions emerged only with the Enlightenment. Thanks to modern science, religion has become obsolete for humans to interpret the world and their existence in it. The secularization of the world led to the criticisms of many other inequities that were practiced via religion. Thus started a process whereby monarchies collapsed, politics became public practice, gender equality was recognized (at least legally), laicism was adopted as a political principle, and public scientific education became widespread.

At some point, the appropriators of power realized where this was leading to. In addition to monotheistic religions being supported, many new-age religions (such as Scientology, Mormonism, Quantum Thinking) were released to the market. What is unquestionable and indisputable dramatically multiplied. With items like private property, “religious and moral values of the public”, state security and economic development, it has become either impossible or forbidden to reason beyond the irrational logic that the system imposes.

Recent political maneuvers, which bring gender equality into question, introduce the creationism nonsense into biology textbooks as an alternative opinion, and describe atheism as a perversion in religion courses, are just parts of this process. Today religion has become the institutionalized tool of exploitation that persuades the masses to the material inequities and the destruction of the global capital. This tool is presented as a painkiller to the 99% of society who lead a miserable and anxious daily life and thereby prevents the power of the privileged minority who lives off their misery from being questioned.

We are raising the bet.

What are our goals?

We came together, on a scientific and social basis, in order to fight against the institutionalization of religion. We believe that religion not only narrows down people’s ideas in the intellectual sense but also functions as a tool for oppression and exploitation. We imagine a world where free thinking and humane life are possible.

As mentioned previously, we are aware that religion is either the same thing as or else allied with the rulers. Therefore, we know that, along our path towards our goals, we will have to confront all the owners and protectors of the existing order.

What do we have in our agenda?

1. We aim at creating ways for atheists to come out. We object to free thought being caged into the realm of the internet and then also getting more and more suppressed there.

We think that each atheist to come out will have a significant contribution to this process. The social hysteria atmosphere that we are exposed to are produced by systematic hate speech, and its cracks lie in real human relationships.

2. We take a stand against the censorship on science and the current rush to falsify scientific facts. We assume a role in informing the public about the facts. Furthermore, we support all the activities in this direction.

3. We object to the rules and practices of a certain religion being introduced to the education system (either as compulsory or “compulsory-elective” courses) without the inclusion of any scientific critical thinking.

4. We see laicism as our political necessary condition not to be relinquished.

5. We are against the religionization of the social life and the indirect imposition of a religious lifestyle both by force or by regulations that would require such lifestyles.

Our principles

1. We feel responsible and obligated to create social opportunities to come out and speak out.

2. We adopt a sceptical, scientific and critical approach.

3. We do not limit our critical approach with religion. We are against any kind of discrimination based on nationality, ethnicity, color, gender, sexual orientation and sexual identity.

4. We do not favor any of the ungrounded ideas. We are “narrow-minded” towards all the irrational nonsense ranging from pseudoscience to mysticism, from monotheistic religions to astrology.

5. While not hesitating to confront religious beliefs and institutions and criticizing religions, we do not approve of the humiliation of common people due to their religious beliefs. We take seriousness and sincerity as our political style.

6. We respect animal rights and all ecosystems as much as we respect human rights. We ground our lives and political stance not on the idea that the world was created for us, but on the knowledge that all beings in the world coexist as parts of the whole.

7. We take it as our principle to show solidarity to the individuals and groups compatible with our goals and principles stated in this text, and form co-operation with them within the bounds of possibility.